James Potter and his maturing years
by Nys
Summary: Did you ever wonder how James went from being the arrogant boy in Snape's worst memory, to the man that Lily Evan's fell in love with? Did you ever wonder what James was really like? Well if you did, this is the story for you.
1. Default Chapter

_Authors Note : Did you ever wonder what happened to James after Lily had abused him at the lake? Well... In my story, Snape has gotten away because James was somewhat distracted by Lily having just ripped into him... And this is the rest of their story..._

"But why would she think I'm conceited?" James asked surprised, still watching after Lily Evans walking back into the castle.

Remus and Sirius laughed at this, but Peter just sat there as if he'd be the one insulted and not James. "Probably 'cause you are a bit Prongs" Remus replied still laughing.

"But that just cause you've got lots to be conceited about" Peter said eagerly. It was as it Peter didn't want to risk James getting upset, and he would say anything to please him again.

"Don't say things like that Peter" Sirius complained with casualness to his voice which still cut straight to the point, "You'll only add to the problem."

"I still say I'm not arrogant" James complained, "And that was damn rude of her to say so"

Sirius and Remus simply looked at each other and shook their heads. Both knew that it would take nothing short of a miracle for James to see to some people he was arrogant. But they knew things about life that James didn't. James' life had always been relatively easy. He came from a wealthy family, who weren't into the Dark Arts, and genuinely loved their son. Everything came easily to him, and he never realised that this wasn't the way for other people.

All the same, the 4 boys were the best of friends. Their one common feature was their sense of humour and their loyalty towards their friends. This was somewhat of legendary around Hogwarts and many said they would be remembered for generations.

The other common factor was that they all had certain areas of magic which they excelled at. Well in truth James and Sirius excelled at most things, but they did each have their special class. For James it was Transfiguation, for Sirius it was Charms, Remus was the best in their year in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and for Peter his best subject was Potions.

James walked back into the castle, not noticing whether or not his friends were behind him. Lily Evans had just embarrassed him in front of most of the school, and worse; in front of his worst enemy, Severous Snape. He'd had a crush of Lily since their 3rd year, and it was somewhat common knowledge, but no girl was worth it. Particular if she could stomp on a guys pride the way she just had his. "I'm over her" he thought to himself as he walked into the Gryffindor common room, "She's too arrogant". James' laughed slightly to himself as he realised that this was what she'd said about him. He realised that he wasn't over her, and he suspected that he wouldn't be for quiet a long time.

Luckily for James, they had nearly finished their OWLS, and the end of year break was only a matter of days away. This meant that there wouldn't be too much time for people to tease him about what Lily had said. It also meant that they all had the break to forget about it, so the following year wouldn't be too painful for him.

This break would also leave time for James to think about what it was about him that came off as being arrogant to Lily. It was this that James was thinking while he was storming around his dorm room throwing random things at the wall. Lupin walked in, and had to duck away from a shoe that had been aimed above the door he'd walked through.

"Bit upset Prongs?" he laughed.

"Wouldn't you be?" James exploded, "She said she'd prefer to go out with the giant squid than me!"

"Obviously she's not afraid of dates that are all arms" Remus gibed.

"It's not funny Moony!" James sulked as he sat back down on his bed. Remus went to his own bed, and started to gather up James things that had been thrown there. There were books, quills and shoes all through out the room. Remus gathered it all with a simple charm, and placed it all back in James' area.

"And apparently she didn't think what you and Padfoot were doing to Snape was funny" Remus replied reasonably.

"But it was just harmless fun"

"Not if you were in Snape's shoes"

"Prongs wouldn't be able to wear Snape's shoes; he'd slip out of them." Sirius said on entering the room, quickly followed by Peter, "Seriously, there's so much grease in that guys hair, his whole body is slippery"

"Even so" Remus said raising his eye brows in suppressed laughter, "Lily obviously didn't think Snape deserved it"

"But she doesn't know what Snape's done to James" Peter said defensively.

"Do you know what he's done to James?" Remus enquired, "Cause I'm still not too sure what he's done"

"He's always hexing and cursing me" James protested.

"Usually in payback for something you've done to him" Remus laughed.

"Not always" Sirius grinned, "Sometimes it's for what I've done to him"

"But he called her a mudblood" James exploded, "Surely she realises what that means!"

Lupin's eyebrows rose again, "That he uses foul language?"

"That he's a you-know-who supporter!"

Lupin sighed, "That's not what it means Prongs. Not everyone who swears like that is a 'you-know-who' supporter"

"But I bet you he is" Sirius added.

Remus shook his head in defeat, there was no way he'd ever be able to convince his friends that Snape wasn't evil, mostly because he wasn't fully convinced of it himself. In fact Remus had his own hatred of Severous Snape, going back to the night that Snape had discovered that he was a werewolf. Even so, Remus didn't enjoy seeing his friends humiliate anyone the way that they just had Snape. It reminded him too much of the stories that he read in the Daily Prophet about muggle-tortures.

"So are you going to forget all about Miss Evans?" Sirius teased James, "I'll bet you're not smart enough to do that"

James quickly drew his wand, and made one of his shoe's fly at Sirius' head. "I'm smarter than you Padfoot!"

"I've never been shot down like that Prongs" Sirius laughed.

"Only because you don't even notice girls" James said aiming the other shoe at Sirius in quick succession to the other. He managed to hit Sirius with the second one, as he was too busy dodging the first to notice the other one.

"Oww!" Sirius complained, "That hurt"

"Stop it you two" Remus said firmly but still friendly, "We've still got Charms tomorrow, and we'd better get studying"

Sirius and James mumbled some sort of complaint, but it was inaudible to anyone but themselves. They knew that Remus was right, so they gathered up their Charms notes and textbook, and went down to the common room to study. Peter took more time as his area was so messy he had trouble finding anything. The only thing that James thought about as he walked down the stairs was how Lily was great at Charms.


	2. Impressing Lily

"Did you remember number 5?" James asked Remus as they walked out of the Charms test the next morning, "About Cheering charms?"

"Yes" Remus replied, "But I had a little trouble remembering the 3 different summoning charms"

Sirius was walking behind them yawning, it was quite obvious that he'd found the test to be easy, and wasn't wanting to talk about it at all.

"I don't know if I'll pass" Peter said trying to stop things from falling out of his bag.

Sirius looked at him in disgust, "You studied last night with the best in the class Peter, how could you not of passed"

"You're not the best in the class though 'oh great' Padfoot" Remus said teasingly, "That honour belongs to Lily Evans".

James' face dropped at the mention of Lily, and Sirius scowled at Remus. "Did you have to mention her name? Prongs is going to sulk for the rest of the day"

"No I'm not" James complained, "I'm not sulking"

"You've barely said a word all day" Sirius laughed, "Too busy thinking about her"

They walked all the way to the Gryffindor common room, where other people were quickly getting ready for the end of year party. The main organisers of this were Lily and Remus as they were the prefects, but Frank Longbottom and Alice Campbell were helping.

Lily was already in the common room putting up streamers with Frank. They'd charmed a banner to say "Goodbye Seniors" and "Happy End-Of-Exams day" whenever anyone walked in the door.

"How did she get up here so quickly?" James asked on seeing Lily.

"She finished her exam before everyone else, and asked to be excused straight away to help decorate" Sirius explained. James looked at him dubiously, so Sirius had to explain how he knew, "She was seated behind me in the exam Prongs, I'm surprised you didn't notice"

"I wasn't looking at her" James protested.

"Prongs you would have finished your exam half an hour earlier if you hadn't been dreaming about her" Remus teased.

"Her hair was gleaming in my eyes with the sunlight hitting it" James complained, "I couldn't concentrate with that happening"

"Yes Prongs" Sirius nodded his head, though not really believing him, "I'm sure that was what was causing you to look at her"

"We need one of you to do something" Frank said walking over to the 4 of them along with Lily, "We need you to get us some food from the kitchens"

"Isn't that breaking rules though?" Sirius said sarcastically looking straight at Lily, "I wouldn't want to do that".

Lily looked at him sternly, "It's not as if you haven't done it before Black, but this time it'll benefit all of Gryffindor, instead of yourselves"

"Evans" Sirius said in mock protest, "We would never do something like break rules"

Lily raised her eyes in angry disbelief, "But you would do something to help this party be more enjoyable surely?"

"Of course he will Lily" Remus said stopping Sirius from saying any thing else, Sirius seemed to love to wind Lily up, "Sirius will go and do that now"

"I'll need some help" Sirius whined.

"Take Peter with you" Remus replied, "James can stay here and help". Remus pushed Sirius and Peter towards the entrance way, and Frank went back to putting up streamers.

"As if he would help anyone but himself" Lily muttered under her breath, it was only just audible but it clearly expressed her dislike of James.

"James can transfigure some chairs and tables out of some sticks I collected from the grounds earlier" Remus said firmly, pointing to the pile in the corner of the room.

"But that transfiguration is on the NEWTS test?" Lily said in surprise.

"He's been able to do that since 3rd year" Remus replied nonchalantly. Lily looked at Remus in disbelief, and then she looked at James, mildly impressed. James noticed that her look of dislike that she showed him was dwindling slightly, but still clearly there. Even so James knew she wasn't going to be rude to him without cause, and he was determined not to give her a reason to hate him even more, particularly in front of all of their house.

James walked over and grabbed a few sticks and then walked back to Lily and Remus. "Where would you like the tables?" he asked.

"Well we'd like another 3 tables here next to the others" Lily told him pointing to where the usual study tables were situated in the middle of the room. "And then we need about another 20 chairs throughout the room"

"Easy" James smiled, liking the way that he had manage to impress Lily. He walked over to where the other tables already were, placed down 3 sticks and drew his wand and said, "Tabimorphius" at each of the sticks. In turn, the sticks turned into tables exactly the same size as the others there. He then placed a number of sticks through out the room, and pointed his wand at them and said, "Lounimorphius". Lounge chairs popped up from the sticks and James plopped down in one to test it out. "See!" he said to Lily, "They're even safe to sit on"

"Potter, that's almost impressive" she said in complete awe of his transfiguration skills. James knew that transfiguration was his specialty, he was always being told that. He was often referred to as the best in their class, though he had the utmost respect for Lily in regards to charm work.

"What's this almost bit?" he said pretending to be insulted. Lily gave him a small smile, and walked away to organise more decorations. At the sight of the small smile, James' heart had leapt for joy. He thought that it showed that she didn't hate him as much as she'd tried to convince him the day before. It didn't mean that she liked him at all, but anything but the hatred she'd shown him the day before was a good thing.

It wasn't long after that Sirius and Peter returned carrying us much food as they were able. Lily seemed quite impressed that they'd been able to get so much, but she didn't ask how they'd gotten it.

At the arrival of food, the party started. The entire Gryffindor house was in the common room dancing around to music, eating as much food as they could and playing different games. They had games like pin the tail on the dragon, there were fireworks going up around the room and there was even a dance competition. All in all, everyone had a good time, went to bed late, and woke up tired.

James woke the next day bright and early. He'd gone the entire night without Lily yelling at him, and he felt great because of it.

He jumped out of bed, got dressed and then started to pack up his trunk.

"Can't you be any quieter?" Sirius groaned from his bed. He'd been up later than everyone else, doing something he wouldn't tell James about, so was very tired.

"I could" James said cheerfully, "But I'm not going to be"

"Seriously Prongs mate, just another hour" Remus complained.

All Peter could do was groan as he rolled back over.

"Well then" James said in a little bit of a huff, "I'll just go down to breakfast without you all"

He left the room to a chorus of 'please do', it appeared that no one else was as happy as James that morning.


	3. Potter Manor

Before James knew it, it was time to go home. They'd all packed up their trunks and quickly were on their way home on the Hogwarts express. The 4 of them said their good byes to each other at the station, and walked through the barrier with their families.

Sirius' family didn't look too pleased to see him, though they were overjoyed to see his little brother Regulus. The last James saw of them, Mr Black packing it all into the trunk of their car. He was cursing and carrying on about Sirius' bags, as they apparently weren't packed as well as Regulus'. Mrs Black was already into Sirius for consorting with people like James and Remus, whose families were well known for their dislike of the Dark Arts. She then started on his OWL results, and how many she expected. Sirius got into the car looking extremely depressed at the prospect of spending the entire holidays with his family.

Remus' family, were very pleased to see him home alive and well. Over the years they'd managed to deal with his being a werewolf relatively well, though they were clearly a lot poorer for it, there were patches on patches on their clothes. They didn't have a car to take them home; instead they were taking the knight bus. Mr Lupin shrunk Remus' trunk and bags so that they were more manageable, and off they went.

Peter's mother was the one to meet him at the station. She was a short dumpy woman, who looked basically the older female version of Peter. James didn't know much of Peter's family as he didn't like to talk of them much to his friends. The only things he knew were what his parents had told him, which was that they were on the edge of the dark side, and no one knew which side they would chose when it came to a head. She was driving a battered up old car, and James' father helped to place Peter's trunk into it.

"I'll see you in September" Peter said sadly out the window as his mother started to pull away from the curb. James nodded his head and smiled as the car drove off. Strangely, he was quite relieved that he wouldn't be seeing Peter for several months, recently James had started to feel quite suffocated by Peter, and it would be a nice change without him around.

"Have a good year son?" Mr Potter asked James and they walked towards their own car.

"Yes" he replied "It was fun"

"When do you get your results?" asked Mrs Potter when they reached their brand new black Mercedes Benz.

"Oh sometime in the next few months" James said not really caring for the topic of conversation. He was still worried about Sirius. James knew that his family didn't treat him very well; he's in fact seen some scars on his back. They looked like they were from a whip of something, but when James asked Sirius about them, he brushed it off quickly as nothing.

James noticed out of the corner of his eye Lily Evans with an older, blond woman. The woman wasn't old enough to be Lily's mother or her aunt. In fact she was far too ordinary looking to be related to Lily; well that was what James thought.

"You'd better behave yourself this holidays Lily" the blond woman said harshly, "None of that freakish stuff, or you'll be out on the streets"

"Yes Petunia" Lily replied sighing softly.

"You know I don't have to have you in my house Lily!" Petunia continued, appearing to ignore Lily totally.

"I know Petunia" said Lily sighing again.

Petunia continued again, barely breaking to take a breath, "After what happened to Mother and Father, I hope you appreciate that I'm taking a risk taking you in" she then unlocked their car and got into the driver's seat.

James' ears perked up a bit, trying to hear what they were saying, he hadn't realised that anything had happened to Lily's parents.

"I do Petunia" Lily replied automatically as she opened her door, and then the back seat door. She then started to try to put her trunk into the backseat. She struggled for quite some time, and Petunia simply sat in the front seat, waiting for Lily to get in. James saw this and walked on over to Lily.

"Here" he said taking the trunk from Lily, "Let me help you with that". He quickly lifted the trunk a little higher, and managed to get it into the car.

"Thank you Potter" Lily replied coldly. Then without another word, she got into the passenger seat of the car. Petunia started the car and simply drove away.

James stood watching the car for a while, and only looked away when he felt his father's hand on his shoulder.

"She doesn't appear to be very happy" Mr Potter said.

"She rarely is around me" James admitted. He put his head down, refusing to look at anything but his feet, and got into his parents car.

It was only as they drove away, that James finally realised how thankful he should be for having both of his parents alive and well. He should be even more thankful that they loved him dearly. It wasn't something that he thought about at all, his parents had always been there, and seemed so strong that he honestly thought that they would live to very old ages. Once James really thought about it, he realised that he took his parents for granted. He promised to himself, that he would tell them how much he loved them, and try to appreciate them more.

Once James had promised himself this, his thoughts had drifted back to Lily Evans. He'd never seen her the way she'd been with her sister. She'd always been feisty and would always stand up for herself and others; and yet she'd let her sister treat her like she was scum. He could help but think, he'd just seen a little more into Lily's life, James could understand more about her, and he liked it.

The drive to Potter Place was over quickly, and James was still thinking about his friends and Lily Evans when they pulled up in front of the house. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw a familiar car. He jumped out of the car and ran on into the house.

"Aunt Harrietta" he called running throughout the house looking for her. He found Harrietta Potter in the living room sitting by the fire. She stood as James entered the room, and he through himself into her arms in a hug.

"James Potter, you're growing taller every time I see you" she said warmly letting go of him so she could look at him properly. "You're going to be a ladies man like your father"

Douglas Potter walked into the room at this point with James' trunk and bags following along behind him, "I was never a ladies man Harri" he laughed.

Harrietta laughed at her older brother, "You never noticed them anyway, but they were there".

Harrietta and Douglas continued to tease each other. James took this time to take a good look at his aunt. He hadn't seen in her in 3 years as she'd been away with business. She was one of the top auror's at the ministry of magic, and one of the youngest at that, but even so, she could still pass as James' older sister.

Harrietta was only 10 years older than James, and had the same messy Potter hair. She had the same strong yet small framed body that could have had her flying professional quidditch if she had wanted to.

James' mother, Millicient walked into the living room, from the kitchen, "Dinner will be ready in a hour" she declared sitting down on a sofa, "So till then, we can listen to Harri's stories"

"Haven't you already heard them?" James asked, he didn't want his parents to have to listen to the stories again, if they had already heard them. Also there was the fact that having Harrietta to himself would have led to more interesting stories. Douglas Potter was still wary about having his little sister in such a dangerous job.

"Harri only arrived this morning James, just before we went to meet you" Douglas replied.

"I would have come too James, but I was unpacking" Harrietta said noticing the upset look on James' face; "Also I thought that the car would be too full with all of your belongings" she teased.

"So how long are you staying?" James asked eagerly.

"A few days at least" she replied off handily, not really wanting to give an exact amount of time.

"That's not long enough" Douglas complained, "We haven't seen you in years!"

"I'm sorry" Harrietta apologised, "But we're busy with the latest pure-blooded nuts who are going around killing people"

"But you've barely had a day off in years" Millicent said kindly, "Surely you can have longer than a few days"

Harrietta shook her head sadly, "I had to call in some major favours in to get these few"

"Things are getting that bad?" James asked.

Harrietta nodded her head. "There are more tortures and killings of muggles and muggle-born wizard's everyday"

"I think that's enough of that topic Harrietta" Millicent said sharply, "We don't want James to have nightmares"

"But Mum" James complained, "I need to know what's going on in the world, its not as if the Daily Prophet tells us the truth"

"James Godric Potter there is no need for you to know what is going on, as you are safe away at Hogwarts for most of the year" Millicent replied quickly, signifying to James that the subject was closed for discussion. Harrietta on the other hand, gave James a quick wink of the eye, and James knew that she would tell him all about it later.

Douglas quickly changed the topic to quidditch, and they were all caught up in whether the Chudley Cannons would make the finals that year, when the Potter's house elf Minny came in.

"Dinner is ready missus Potter" she said in her usual squeaky voice.

"Very good Minny, we'll be there in a moment" Millicent replied curtly.

"Young Master" Minny said running over to James, "You is back!". Minny then danced around James' chair happily, she noticed Harrietta and she jumped slightly. "And Miss Harrietta too, oh happy days!"

"Yes they're both back Minny" Douglas laughed, "That'll mean more cleaning, and lots more food"

"Well cakes actually" Harrietta laughed, "I hope you still make those Chocolate cakes of yours Minny, I've been missing them"

"And you look like you has too" Minny scolded slightly, "You near skin and bone Miss if you don't mind me sayin' you need my Chocolate cake straight away"

Harrietta laughed kindly, "I'll settle for dinner first"

"Then let's eat" Douglas declared standing from his chair.

Once dinner was over, Douglas and Millicent retired for the night, and left James and Harrietta to catch up in the living room.

"So Jamesie boy, any special girls in your life?" Harrietta teased as soon as Douglas and Millicent had left the room.

"Hmmm.." James thought out loud, "I don't know how to answer that"

"Truthfully" Harrietta answered, "I will know if you're lying" her eyes were twinkling of mischievous laughter.

"You wouldn't use Legilimency on your only nephew would you?"

"Of course I wouldn't" Harrietta laughed, "Well I might, but I wouldn't need to, I can read you like a book dear nephew"

"In that case you tell me" said James as a challenge to his aunt, "That is if you really can read me like a book"

"I'm guessing by the way that you had to think about whether there was a girl in you life, that there's one you would like in your life, but she doesn't like you"

James looked at his Aunt in shock. She'd picked it in one. "How did you know that" he stumbled out.

"I told you James, I can read you like a book"

"In that case, it's my turn to know what you're thinking" James said pressing his hands to his temples as if to try to read Harrietta's mind. "You want to tell me what you've been doing these past 3 years" he declared after much 'pretended' thought.

Harrietta laughed again "Wrong James"

"You wanted to earlier, but my parents wouldn't let you"

"Your mother just doesn't want you to have to grow up too early" she explained, "Like your father did"

"But I'm 15" James complained, "And she treats me as if I'm 11"

"I'm not going to question a mother's prerogative" Harrietta said sternly, "It's her place to try to protect you"

"So you're not going to tell me?" James asked with a pleading look to his face, he really wanted to know what was happening in the magic world.

"I am going to tell you" Harrietta admitted, "All I said was I wasn't going to question your mother's decision, I didn't say I was going to take any notice of it" she smiled.

James paused for a moment in thought. It was strange that Harrietta was prepared to completely ignore his mother's decision to ensure James didn't know what was going on. Harrietta had basically adopted Millicent as a sister, and James had never heard them disagree on anything, much less ignore the opinion of the other. He told Harrietta this and she laughed.

"I am a Potter after all" she said in-between laughs. She became more serious suddenly, "And because it's a more dangerous world than your mother realises, or your father for that matter. You only have another 2 years at school James, you need to start preparing.


	4. Shopping with Harrietta Part 1

"There are people in the wizarding community, who believe that pureness of blood is the most important thing for a wizard" Harrietta explained.

James nodded his head, "Like the Malfoy's". Lucius Malfoy had been at Hogwarts for 2 years while James was. He'd been forever picking on muggle-born students; James had hated him for it.

Harrietta nodded her head, "Just like the Malfoy's. They believe that muggle's are scum, and muggle-born wizards aren't much better"

"That's silly though" James said angrily, "One of the most powerful students in my class is a muggle-born girl"

"You know that, and I know that" Harrietta smiled kindly, "But power like that isn't important to these sorts of people. The only power the consider worthy, are the Dark Arts"

"So that's what they are using?" James said softly. He was worried about the look on his aunt's face; he knew that she would have been facing these sorts of wizard's everyday of the last 3 years. It was no wonder than James' father was worried about his little sister.

"Yes" Harrietta replied, "They want to rid the world of all muggles, and then muggle-born wizards"

"So why isn't the ministry stopping them?" James asked outraged, this meant that Lily Evans and Remus Lupin were both at risk, Lily because she was muggle-born, Remus because he wasn't a pure-blood, and a werewolf one at that!

"Well because they aren't coming straight out and saying that" Harrietta explained patiently, "They are coming out and saying that we should all have strong wizarding pride, and the introduction of muggle-borns to our world should be limited, and stringently monitored. Other's are saying that we should expose our world to muggles, and see how they take it?"

"Why do that?" James asked confused.

"Because that would result in a war between us"

James' look of confusion didn't leave his face, "How's that?" he asked.

"Muggles are afraid of everything different to them. And they particularly hate everything that cannot be explained. You think about how many different ways they've tried to convince themselves that there is no such thing as magic"

"So this is all just a way to try to have a war between us and the muggles"

"Well we would win that war James"

"So it would lead to the destruction of muggles" James answered finally catching on to what his aunt was telling him.

"Which is exactly what they want"

James was burning with anger inside of him, "So what's this about tortures and killings?" he asked.

"Well it's their way of trying to expose our world to the muggles so that it happens without the permission of the Ministry of Magic"

"Because the Ministry would never give them permission, would they?"

"Which is why they are trying to get the muggles to realise it for themselves"

James took in a deep breath, and thought about what his aunt had told him. "So how are they torturing them?" he asked after some thought.

Harrietta looked at him thoughtfully; she was uncertain how much she should tell her young nephew. "Are you sure you want to know all of this James, it's likely to give you nightmares" she said to him eventually. She was thinking about what her sister-in-law had said earlier in the day. Harrietta really didn't want to say too much to James, but she did feel strongly that he had the right to know what was going on in the world.

"You said I should know" James said in return, "So that I can prepare myself for it all"

"Are you thinking of becoming an auror?" Harrietta said hopefully, "Like me?"

"Well I wanted to do something along those lines, particularly now that you've told me what's really happening"

Harrietta beamed at James. He was so strong in personality; Harrietta didn't think she could be more proud of him, than if he was her own son. "Then I'll tell you" she said pausing for a while. There was so many different ways that tortures were being done, that she had to think for a while, for the tamest ones. She wasn't going to tell James all of them, she knew better than to do that, most of them still gave her nightmares.

"One of the most popular one for muggles, is to turn them upside down, and show everyone their underwear, they tend to do this in front of a crowd"

James frowned at this. Harrietta thought that he looked guilty, so she asked him why.

He didn't speak.

"James?" Harrietta said sternly, "Have you done this to someone yourself?"

James still just looked down at the floor, without saying a word.

"Remember I can read you like a book James. I know that you are feeling guilty"

James looked up at his aunt, silently cursing that she could understand how he thought and felt so easily. He took a deep breath, looked at his aunt, but refused to meet her eyes. "He really did deserve it" he stumbled.

"James" Harrietta said angrily, "How could you do something like that! Who was it you did it too?"

"It was only Severous Snape" James explained quickly, "He's an evil little git!"

Harrietta looked at James crossly; the look in her eyes was of pure disappointment. "The Snape's are a well known supporter of the Dark Arts, and the cleansing of wizarding blood" Harrietta explained, "You are only giving this Severous, reason to hate you and everything you believe in James"

James looked back down at the floor.

"You may have just given him a decent reason, for him to join his family in their beliefs" Harrietta explained.

"So you know them?" James asked quietly.

"Yes," Harrietta replied, "I've had some dealings with them"

"So they're the type to torture muggles" James asked, he was trying his hardest to make his aunt understand why he did it. He hated to disappoint his aunt, and he knew that he had.

"That's no excuse James" Harrietta said looking at James crossly still, "He still hasn't done anything to muggles"

"But he knows more curses than anyone" James whined like a spoilt child, "He's evil Aunt Harrietta"

"Than how 'evil' are you, to do that sort of thing to him, I mean you know the same spells" Harrietta said reaching over to her nephew's face, and lifting it so that he would look at her in the eyes. "If you do what they do, you are only being as bad as them, you must lift yourself above such things James, and be better for it"

"Will you tell Mum and Dad?" James asked close to tears. He understood what it was his aunt was saying, and he was beginning to fell as guilty as he ever had, for what he'd done to Severous.

"How will I explain to them that I found out?" Harrietta said smiling, "James' I'm not angry at you?" she said softly, "Just disappointed."

"I'll never do it again Aunty. I promise."

"I wouldn't think you would, not after what I've told you"

"I'm going to behave next year, and work hard so I can become an auror" James said determinedly.

Harrietta smiled, and patted him on the head. "I know you'll do it too" she laughed, ruffling his hair. She stood, and stretched and yawned. "I think its about time we go to bed, hey James?"

"Yes" James replied standing also, "I am a little tired".

They both walked up the stairs to their rooms, both thinking of the other. James was thinking how strong his aunt was to be battling these types of people everyday, and how he wanted to do good like her. Harrietta was thinking how much James had changed since the last time she'd seen him. She seriously hoped that James would keep his promise to her, and had learnt some things from what she'd said.

James walked into his room, and found that his trunk had already been unpacked. There was also a glass of milk, and a piece of chocolate cake waiting for him on his desk. He quickly ate the cake, and drank the milk, and got ready to bed.

All the time he was thinking about what he'd done to Snape. He still thought that Snape slightly deserved what they'd done to him, but he realised that he shouldn't have used those sorts of spells on him.

The next morning, James got up, dressed, and when down the stairs to the dining room. He found his parents and Harrietta there talking and laughing.

"Good morning James" Millicent said warmly.

"Good morning Mother, Father, Aunt Harrietta" James replied sitting down next to his aunt.

"We were just talking about what we should do today" Harrietta said, "I need to get some supplies from Diagon Alley; I was wondering whether you would like to come with me?"

James looked at his parents in surprise, they normally only went to Diagon Alley the week before he went back to Hogwarts, an extra trip would be a special treat for James. "Can I?" he asked his parents pleadingly.

"Well…" Millicent said slowly, "I was going to get you to clean the back yard of gnomes today, but I suppose that can be left until tomorrow"

Douglas nodded his approval to the plan, took the last few bites of his breakfast and got up from the table. He kissed his wife and said "I'd better go off to work"

"But it's a Saturday" Harrietta complained, "And you say that I work too hard"

"Muggle relations are important to the security of the wizarding community" Douglas replied, "There's no rest for me these days"

"Have a good day at work dear" Millicent said before Douglas walked away towards the door.

"So can I get a new broomstick Mother?" James asked eagerly.

"Hmmm" Millicent thought, "I think we should leave that until after we receive your OWLS" she said teasingly, with a twinkle in her eyes.

"But Mum that won't give me enough time to practice before I go back to school, if I do well enough this year I might become captain the following year" he said pleadingly.

"Well I guess you'll just have to practice harder if you should get a new one, after the OWL's come out" Harrietta teased.

"But Mum…" James complained.

"Its no use James" Harrietta laughed, "I don't think you'll get your Mother to come around"

"You won't" Millicent said sternly, "You'll have to wait until your OWL's come out" she repeated.

"How about you bring some friends along?" Harrietta asked, "Would that make up for it?"

"I don't know" James said sadly.

"Too embarrassed to be seen shopping with your Aunty, James?" Harrietta teased, pretending to be insulted.

"Of course not" James said quickly, "It's just I really wanted to practice with a new broomstick"

"Well you're not getting one today James, and that's final" Millicent said sternly, "So stop whining about it"

"So can I invite Sirius?" James asked his aunt enthusiastically.

"I don't know about Sirius…" Harrietta said pretending to think about it, "Is he still the same?"

"Yes"

"That's okay then" Harrietta declared happily, "He'll make things that little bit more fun"

Millicent got up from the table, saying a quick good bye to Harrietta, and kissed her son on the cheek, "Behave yourself today James" she warned, "And you'd better go and call Sirius"

James nodded, and jumped up from his chair and ran into the living room. He grabbed a handful of floo powder, threw it into the fire and said "12 Grimmald Place", he then kneeled on the floor and put his head in the fire. The familiar whirling feeling went over James' body, and all of a sudden, he was seeing the living room of the House of Black. "Hello" James said as he focused on the room he was seeing.

"What do you want?" a gruff rude voice asked.

"Regulas, how are you today?" James said cheerfully.

"Too busy to be wasting my time talking to the likes of you" Regulas replied nastily.

"Well then" James said not at all disturbed by Regulas' rudeness, "I won't keep you, I was wanting to talk to Sirius"

"Prong's mate" Sirius said walking into the room, "Regulas, skat!" he said sternly to his younger brother. Sirius was looking like he'd just gotten out of bed. His hair clearly hadn't been brushed, but still looked much better than James' ever would.

Once Regulas had left the room, Sirius turned back to the fire, which had James' head showing in it, "He's being an annoying little prat" he complained.

"Well then, how would you like a day shopping in Diagon Alley with me and my Aunt Harrietta?" James asked cheerfully.

Sirius' eyes lit up at the prospect, and then deadened a little. "I'll have to ask Mum" he said warily.

"I'll wait" James said.

Sirius went off into another room, and James waited impatiently. He'd not thought of the possibility of Sirius not being allowed to come. He knew that the Black's were supporter's of the Dark Arts, and were very fanatical about pureness of blood. James' only comfort was the fact that his family were one of the purest of wizarding families.

Sirius came back bounding into the room. "I can come over for the day, I think they want me out of the house" he said cheerfully, "If you get your boofhead out of the fire, I can come over"

James smiled, and pulled his head out of the fire. He stood up and stepped back a bit so that Sirius wouldn't run into him when he arrived.

James had only just moved out of the road, when Sirius appeared in front of the fire.

"So is your Aunt still good-looking?" Sirius asked cheekily.

James hit Sirius in the arm, "She's my Aunt"

"That doesn't mean she's not hot?" Sirius replied rubbing his arm from where James had hit him.

"It does however, mean you haven't a chance young Sirius" Harrietta laughed as she walked into the room.

Sirius looked away from Harrietta blushing slightly.

"I take it you have permission to come with us?" said Harrietta laughing to herself at how red Sirius blushed.

"Mum's happy to get me out of the house" Sirius explained.

"I'm sure she's not" Harrietta replied kindly, "How could she not want your smiling face around"

"I smile, that's the first problem" Sirius said dejectedly, "That's not allowed in the House of Black"

"I'm sure you're exaggerating" Harrietta laughed.

James shook his head sadly, "He's not, you should meet them"

"They're your family Sirius" Harrietta said seriously, "They love you no matter what"

Sirius mumbled something that James couldn't hear, and neither could Harrietta.

"Are you all set to go?" Harrietta asked changing the subject.

"I've just got to go get dressed properly" James said smiling, "I can't be seen looking like this".

Harrietta looked at James up and down. "What's wrong with what you're wearing?"

"These are my house clothes" James said aghast, "I can't be seen like this"

James bounded off up the stairs. As he ran up the stairs he heard Harrietta say to Sirius, "He's so vain!"


	5. Shopping with Harrietta Part 2

James returned pretty quickly, having changed into his favourite pair of jeans, and a collared shirt. He had grabbed his normal going out robes as he'd run out of his room. It wasn't everyday he got to spend a day in Diagon Alley with his favourite aunt and his best friend, and he didn't want to waste a moment.

When he finally got back downstairs, Sirius and Harrietta were already at the front door waiting for him.

"All finished prettying yourself up Prongs?" Sirius teased.

"It didn't take me too long Padfoot" James replied.

Harrietta looked from James to Sirius, and then back to James. "Do I want to understand your nicknames for each other? Or is it better not knowing?"

Sirius smiled his best innocent smile and said, "There's nothing to them Ms Potter, nothing to worry about"

Harrietta scoffed, "I don't believe that at all young Master Black" she said as she opened the door and playfully pushed the 2 young men out the door. "Keep a hold of those robes until we actually get there" she said, walking out the door, and closing it behind her. She pulled out her car keys, and opened the doors, "You can put them back on once we actually get into Diagon Alley"

"Yes Aunty" James and Sirius replied in chorus, as they sat down in the car.

It wasn't long until Harrietta had parked her car, and her and the 2 boys were on their way to Diagon Alley.

They walked into the Leaky Cauldron, and were soon stopped by Tom, the innkeeper.

"Hello Harrietta" he said warmly, "Haven't seen you around these parts for quite some time"

"Hello Tom" Harrietta replied "I haven't had time to do much in the last few years"

"I see you've got your young nephew with you" Tom said motioning towards James, "But I don't recognise his other young friend" he said pointing towards Sirius.

Sirius stepped forward, and thrust out his hand, "Sirius Black" he said. Tom's face went numb, and he sort of fumbled Sirius' hand in a quick shake. He then mumbled something about restocking some shelves, and he walked away.

"Odd fellow" James remarked as they proceeded on. Sirius just looked down at the floor, as if he was ashamed of something. James wasn't sure what was wrong with his friend, but he figured he'd cheer up as they went on into Diagon Alley.

Harrietta walked in front of the 2 boys, and tapped on the wall 3 times, while James and Sirius were putting on their robes.

The wall opened up, and James could see through to Diagon Alley. James hadn't been to Diagon Alley when it wasn't a busy day and it was the lack of people that he noticed first. He knew that most wizarding families only brought their children there during the few weeks before the start of term, but he was still expecting there to be more people. The place seemed awfully quiet, though he suspected it was because this time there wasn't the barrage of kids running throughout the streets.

"Now I know you two are used to this place" Harrietta said as they walked through the opening of the wall, "But I still don't want either of you out of my sight"

"But Mum and Dad let us go off together" James complained, "Don't you trust us" James pouted, while trying to look at his aunt with what he called 'puppy dog eyes'.

Harrietta laughed at the blatant attempt to guilt her into changing her mind. "James, you will learn that there are more dangerous things than 2 fifteen year old wizards"

"Your Aunt is right James," Sirius admitted with a bit of spite in his voice. Harrietta nodded her head at Sirius, and started to walk off towards Gringotts Wizarding bank. As soon as she was far enough away, Sirius added, "Besides, who wouldn't want to be seen around with your Aunt"

James simply shook his head at Sirius and followed his Aunt.

After they had withdrawn enough money for the days shopping, they went off towards the busier part of Diagon Alley. James had noticed that Harrietta hadn't withdrawn enough money to buy a broomstick. He knew that his mother had said that he had to wait until his OWL results were out, to see if they were worthy of a new broomstick, nonetheless he's been hoping that Harrietta would buy him one anyway.

Their first point of call was Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Harrietta was looking for new dress robes, as she said hers were old and out of fashion. This meant that James and Sirius had to sit down and watch her change into and out of different robes. James didn't find this very interesting, but as expected, Sirius was quite pleased with it.

After finally settling on a set of silver robes with Maron trimmings, they went off towards the Apothecary.

"Oh" James said on entering the shop. "Can we not spend so much time in here?" He asked. Harrietta just laughed and went off in search for the ingredients she needed. No matter how many times James came into the Apothecary, he would never get used to the foul stench so many potion ingredients gave off. All together it was worse than a dungbomb.

Sirius had started to look around the shop while James had been complaining. James soon found him near the Lizard brains, and Dragon gizzards.

"Imagine what we could make with some of these ingredients" Sirius once he'd noticed James.

"What are you thinking oh wondrous Padfoot?"

"Hmm…" Sirius said pretending to think, "Pranks for Snivellous"

James grinned at Sirius in agreement, and then remembered the promise he's made his Aunt. "Though its getting a little boring constantly pranking him"

Sirius looked horrified. "Boring?" he asked, "How is it boring?"

"Well" James said slowly, "I think we should endeavour to use our skills for profit instead..."

Sirius looked at James slyly, "What are you thinking Prongs?"

James hadn't actually had a plan, he just wanted to keep his promise to Harrietta, without looking bad in front of Sirius. So James was left in the conundrum, of having to think of a way to profit from their skills.

"We could rent out ourselves…" James said.

Sirius looked at James with much amusement, "I'm not sure Lily would buy you mate" he laughed.

James cursed Sirius under his breath, "That's not what I mean" he said crossly, hating the way that everything he said eventually referred back to Lily, "I mean rent us out for tutoring"

"That's pretty boring Prongs, I expected better of you" Sirius said shaking his head sadly, his eyes then lit up as he started to tell James what he'd been thinking "I was thinking of us as protectors, or "Paid Pranksters", where people pay us to do nasty tricks on people"

"We could still hire us out as tutors, Moony would like that" James replied, nodding his head while smiling at Sirius' ideas, "That way he'd be more likely to help us with the other side of the business"

"Ahh… A business….." Sirius said realising the extent of James' plan, "That's brilliant!" he exclaimed, "And that way we can make some extra pocket money!"

"Do I want to know what you two are planning?" Harrietta asked coming up behind them.

Sirius and James turned around quickly, and pulled on their most innocent of faces. "We're just discussing some things we learnt in potions class" Sirius said innocently.

Harrietta eyed Sirius suspiciously, and laughed out loud as they both continued to smile at her innocently. "I don't like it when you 2 smile like that; it makes me wonder what you've been up too"

"But Aunty Harrietta" James said pretending to be insulted, "Have we ever done anything that makes you suspicious of us?"

"You're breathing aren't you?" Harrietta laughed.

James and Sirius both nodded their heads, "Than you're up to something"

James and Sirius started to laugh. "You know us well" Sirius remarked but didn't elaberate.

Once Harrietta payed for what she wanted, they went on to Flourish and Blotts. There James and Sirius walked around and looked at the books, while Harrietta searched for what she needed.

"Look at this" said Sirius.

James walked over to find Sirius holding a book called, "The fall of Grindelwald" by Marcus Salemander.

"Wasn't he the one who tried to make Muggle hunting legal?" James asked not thinking it as exciting as Sirius.

"No" Sirius replied quickly, "That was a Black, this guy was the one who tried to take over the world"

"Oh then" said James a little more interested, "Didn't Dumbledore have a lot to do with that?"

"Yes" said Harrietta again coming up behind the boys. "You might do well to read that book" she said rather mysteriously James thought, "It might be helpful in getting you 2 to focus more on your studies"

"I focus on my studies" James said insulted.

Sirius snickered, "Yes, the study of Lily Evans, and how to date her"

James slapped Sirius on the arm warningly.

"Lily Evans hey James?" Harrietta teased, "Is that the name of your girlfriend?"

"NO" James replied quickly.

"It's the name of the girl he's infatuated with" Sirius supplied Harrietta, once he'd moved further away from James.

"Sirius!" James said angrily, "Don't!"

Harrietta laughed at the way James was going red. "It's all right James," she said kindly, "I won't tell your parents, your Dad would have a field day with this"

"Thank you Aunty" said James still giving Sirius death stares. Sirius had moved behind Harrietta, so that she was between him and James.

"Any where else you boys would like to go?" Harrietta asked.

"Quidditch Supplies" James said with eyes lit up with joy.

Harrietta sighed, "You're just like your father"


	6. Shopping with Harrietta Part 3

James and Sirius both bought a copy of the book that they were looking at, and Harrietta bought a few different books on hexes and charms, and they went off towards the Quidditch store.

In the window out the front of the store, there was a Firebolt 001, the latest of latest model broomsticks. James and Sirius stopped to admire it, as Harrietta walked on in to see the manager who was an old friend of hers.

"That's what I want" James said pointing at the Firebolt, "It's the best of all of the broomsticks, its got better handling, better speed control, it even has better cushioning"

Sirius looked at his friend as he was looking at the broomstick; "Your Mum'll buy it for you"

"Only if I get good enough OWL's" James complained.

"At least it's possible for you to get good enough marks for your Mum" Sirius remarked offhandedly. James looked at him for a moment. Sirius had started to look back at the broomstick. Sirius hardly ever mentioned his parents, he always preferred to just not talk about them; it was as if he wanted to believe that they didn't exist.

"Well" Harrietta said putting her head back out the door, "Do you 2 want to actually look around the store, or would you prefer just to stand their drooling at the Firebolt?"

Sirius and James looked at each other and laughed, then walked into the store.

Walking around the store they started to look at the different equipment that professional Quidditch players used. Harrietta was pointing out the different posters to James and Sirius, when all of a sudden there was a jingle of the door opening and the chatter of the shop stopped. James turned around to see Ludo Bagman standing at the door. Everyone just stopped and stared at him as he walked in.

" 'ello Harri" he said to Harrietta as he walked in the door. As soon as he saw Harrietta he started to rub his hand through his hair, though instead of it being an attempt to neaten his hair, he deliberately messed it up. James thought that it looked silly. It was as if Ludo wanted to look like he'd just walked off a broomstick.

"Ludo" Harrietta said coldly, "How are you today?"

"Very well thank you Harri" he replied smoothly, "I trust that your day has been pleasant"

"Up until now" James heard Harrietta say quietly, she then spoke up louder, "Yes, thank you Ludo, just doing a little bit of shopping with my nephew and his friend Sirius here" Harrietta said motioning towards James and Sirius.

"Well then" Ludo said pointing at James, "You can't half tell he's a Potter, now can you, just as good looking as his Aunt, and father." James rolled his eyes, he was forever being told how much like his father and Aunt he looked. "I've heard about your chaser skills, and I hear you're being compared to me as a flyer" he said, he then motioned at Sirius and said, "And what was your name?"

"Sirius Black" he replied.

"Oh" Ludo said, "A Black"

"And to what do we owe the honour of your company Ludo?" Harrietta asked, sensing that Sirius was embarrassed at yet another person making a point of him being a Black.

"Oh I was just coming in to see about ordering a Firebolt 001"

"Well then" Harrietta said coolly, "We wouldn't want to keep you" And then she led James and Sirius out of the shop, and back into the street. "That man!" she exclaimed angrily, "That arrogant…"

"Why do people keep making a point about you being a Black?" James asked confused.

"Don't know" Sirius said quickly, "I take it you don't like Ludo, Harrietta?"

"No" Harrietta said trying to calm herself down a little, "He's far too arrogant, he asked me out once, and now I'm like a prize he keeps trying to win over"

"Doesn't he know how much of an idiot he looks messing up his hair like that?" James asked. Sirius simply smiled at James, and contained his laugh.

"Well, then, I think it's about time we go home" Harrietta declared.

"Can't we stay a little longer?" Sirius asked, "There's plenty more we can see"

"Sorry Sirius" Harrietta replied, "I've got some work I've got to do at home now, and I promised Milli that I'd have myself and James home for tea"

"Oh" Sirius said sadly, "Okay then"

They left Diagon Alley in silence. Sirius was looking more and more depressed the closer they drew to Potter place.

By the time they pulled up to the house Sirius looked like he was going to a funeral.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" James asked trying to cheer his friend up.

"No mate, I'd better go home;" he said sadly. "Thanks for taking me today Harrietta, I had a lot of fun" Sirius tried to force a smile as he spoke.

"It's been a pleasure to have you Sirius" Harrietta said brightly, "Remember that you're welcome at the Potter's anytime"

"Thanks" Sirius replied, "I told Mother that I'd go to Diagon Alley, and then straight home. So I'd better go and floo home"

"I'll see you Padfoot" James said in parting.

"Yeah" Sirius said sadly, "I'll see you"

James then watched his friend, carrying the book that he'd bought, walk into the house. James was left to help Harrietta carry her bags into the house.

"So Aunty, why did people continually make a point of Sirius being a Black today?" James asked once they'd entered the living room. They'd taken all of Harrietta's bags into the house, and then she had them go up to her room.

"The Black's are a very well known family James" Harrietta replied quickly. James sensed that she didn't want to be talking about this particular subject, but he refused to let it drop.

"So are the Potter's, but no one uses those tones of voices when speaking of us!"

"That's because the Potter's aren't known as some of the evilest wizards" Douglas Potter said on entering the room.

"And the Black's are?" a confused James asked.

"Generally" Douglas replied.

"Not all of them" Harrietta said quickly, "There are some good ones"

"Name one Black who is good" Douglas asked his sister curtly.

"Sirius isn't evil" James said loudly, trying to make his point.

"Sirius isn't of age yet" Douglas said sadly, "You don't know how he's going to be when he's older"

"I doubt he's going to go over to the evil side of magic" Harrietta replied in Sirius' defence, "And he's not the only one in the family that's not evil, what about Andromeda?"

"She's no longer a Black" Douglas said stubbornly, "She's different"

"She was a Black when she fell in love with a muggle!"

"Well every family has someone who is different" Douglas said tenaciously. "And Andromeda quite obviously is the Black's"

"That's not to say that she's the only one" Harrietta continued, "She was telling me the other day that she has an uncle who is like her, he just didn't marry a muggle"

"You believe anything you want Harrietta" Douglas sighed, "You just can't see that some families are just evil"

"And you can't see that you are what you are, because of your choices, not because of your family" Harrietta stated angrily, "In a way, you're just as bad as them!". And with that, Harrietta stormed up the stairs, to her room.

James was left in the living room, with his father who was still seething at his sister.

Douglas turned to James; "You'd think that after being an auror for so long, she'd realise what people are like" he said testily.

"I think she knows what people are like better than you"

"What is that supposed to mean James!" Douglas demanded. Douglas' face was red with anger, James could nearly see steam coming out of his ears. He could see that Douglas was struggling with controlling his temper and he was just waiting for his father to explode. "Are you saying that I don't know what people are like!"

"Maybe she just wants to give people a chance, and she realises that blood isn't everything" James replied quietly, not wanting to anger his father any more.

"Pureness of blood isn't important I know that" Douglas said testily.

"But saying someone is evil dependant on their family; is just as bad as saying someone is or isn't worthy of magic" James said quickly.

Before Douglas could answer, James bounded up the stairs quickly to his own room. He'd seen his father angry only a few times, and it wasn't pleasant to see, James realised it was safest to stay out of his father's way.

It was the next morning when James left his room again. He'd stayed in his room through dinner, and the house elf had brought him up some dinner to tide him through the night.

"Morning everyone" James said quietly as he walked through the door, and sat down next to his mother.

"Sleep well James?" Millicent asked.

"Yes I did Mother"

"No tummy rumblings?" Harrietta teased, "You didn't come out of your room for dinner"

Millicent frowned at James, so he tried to quickly think of a legitimate excuse; "I was engrossed in a book I bought yesterday". James silently cheered that Sirius had taught him how to think quickly of ways to get out of trouble.

"What was it James? Was it "The fall of Grindelwald"?" Harrietta asked.

"Why would he want to read a book like that Harrietta?" Millicent interrupted, "That's a far too scary book for a young boy"

"Mother I'm nearly 16" James complained.

"You're still not of legal wizarding age James" Millicent said sharply, "Thereby still a boy"

"A boy still needs to know his history" Harrietta argued.

"Why?" Millicent said stubbornly, "It's not as if it's ever going to happen again, the Ministry have made sure of that"

James could see the eyes of his aunt light up in anger, so he spoke up loudly, "That wasn't the book I was reading anyway Mother" he said, Harrietta frowned slightly at James, but his mother simply stopped and stared, "It was "Hogwart's A History", Remus has been trying to get me to read it for a while". James felt a little bad telling such a lie to his mother, but he reasoned to himself that Remus had tried to get him to read that book.

"Your father has also been trying to get you to read that book since you started at Hogwarts" Millicent beamed. Harrietta scowled slightly at the mention of her brother.

"Where is father this morning?" James asked slowly, he didn't want Harrietta to be angered any further, but he still wanted to know.

"He left early for work" Millicent explained, "He's so busy these days, the muggle's are starting to see magic more and more"

"Gee I wonder why that would be happening again;" Harrietta said sarcastically.

Millicent seemed to ignore Harrietta's comment and continued, "He really has an important job".

James knew this particular speech of his mother's, so he spoke before she got going too much; "Well I'd better get back to my book". With that he winked at his aunt, grabbed another piece of toast, and ran back up to his room.

With the excuse of reading such a thick book as "Hogwarts a History" James didn't have to leave his room too much over the following few days. He only left his room for meals, and returned straight afterwards. Harrietta came in a few times, just to see if he was alright, but she noticed that he was busy reading "The fall of Grindelwald", so she left him to it.

It was the end of the 3rd day since Douglas and Harrietta had had their disagreement, and James was sneaking down to the kitchen to get some chocolate cake. He had to walk slowly down the stairs, making sure that he didn't squeak any of the stairs, which would have woken up Douglas who was a light sleeper.

James had been able to avoid most contact with his father, and he didn't want to have to speak to his father whilst Harrietta was still in the house. He knew that while Harrietta was still in the house, Douglas would remember the words that he and James had shared. As much as James knew he was right, he really didn't want to see his father as angry as that again.

James was unsure whether he father really believed what he'd said, or whether he was just trying to protect James from the reality of the world. Mostly James didn't want to think anything bad of his father, so he let himself believe that.

So James was left to sneak through his family home so that he was able to get some much-wanted chocolate cake. He gradually crept his way through the living room, having to avoid the coffee table that had hands coming out the side of it to hold cups. It had noticed that there was someone nearby, and was automatically searching for something to grab hold of.

The next thing that James had to pass by was a cupboard that was made out of Whomping Willow. It was set to accost anyone and everything near it whilst the room was dark. As he had done the midnight raid of the kitchen many times before, James knew that all he had to do was touch a particular knot in the wood, and the cupboard would let him past.

James was finally safe from all the objects in the living room, and was just about to walk into the kitchen, when there was a loud banging on the door. He cursed under his breath as it was going to be hard to explain to his father, who would now be awake, why he was down stairs in the middle of the night.

Even so, James ran quickly to the door, as the banging had sounded urgent.


	7. Sirius's story

Harrietta somehow beat James to the door. She was opening the door by the time James had got there himself.

She opened the door, and Sirius collapsed into her arms.

"Sirius!" She said surprised, there were many people Harrietta would have expected to find knocking on her door in the middle of the night, and Sirius Black wasn't on the top of the list.

"Padfoot" James cried running to his Aunt.

Harrietta seemed to suddenly realise what was going on, and James could see her eyes thinking desperately what to do. "James, help me take him over to the couch"

James then helped Harrietta take Sirius who it appeared was still unconscious, to the lounge room.

"Did he have anything with him?" Harrietta asked as the lay Sirius down on the couch.

"I don't think so" James replied, still trying to come to grips with seeing the battered body of his best friend, on his families lounge room couch.

"Go and check" Harrietta said sternly, as she started to check over Sirius' body.

James went back out to the front door and opened it, he didn't see anything yet again, so he went quickly back to his aunt. "No nothing" James said on entry.

"He's barely gotten away from there with his life, I didn't think he'd be able to bring anything, but better to check"

"Is he going to be okay?" James asked. What was happening in front of him, was just starting to sink into James' mind.

"I don't know" Harrietta admitted, "I think we're going to have to wake your parents"

"Too late" said a voice from behind them. James turned around to see both of his parents in dressing gowns.

"Milli, I think he needs your skills" Harrietta said standing from where she was crouch beside Sirius, "He's pretty badly beaten"

"Take James into the other room" Millicent said quickly, walking to where Sirius was lieing.

"I don't think so" James said stubbornly, "He's my best friend, I want to be here"

"James!" Millicent warned, "Do as you're told"

"Milli, I think it's more important that you help Sirius, than if James is here or not" Douglas said quietly. Millicent looked at her husband in surprise, she thought that he would have supported her strongly, but conceded defeat, and went over to Sirius.

Millicent started to go over Sirius' body with her wand. "James, go and get my healer's bag from the kitchen" she said firmly, once she'd covered all of his body, from head to toe.

James paused for a moment, thinking that his mother was just trying to get him out of the room. "James go!" Harrietta said sternly.

Realising that his mother had meant it seriously, and not as and excuse, James rushed off towards the kitchen. His mother had been a extremely proficient healer before she had married Douglas. James wasn't sure why she no longer worked, and had never asked, but he knew that no matter what, his mother always kept a fully functional healer's bag under the sink in the kitchen.

Once James had found the bag and returned to the lounge room, Millicent started to look throughout the bag. James was impressed that she knew exactly what it was she wanted, the school nurse had always needed to consult a text book. James had spent enough time in the hospital wing at Hogwarts to know the general procedures of the school nurse. It got to the stage when he and Sirius were able to quote to the nurse what it was they needed, quicker than she could look it up.

James looked back down at his friend. Sirius' face was mangled, and his usual quite handsome face, was nearly unrecognisable. There were several deep gashes across his face, blood had clotted them, and so they were no longer bleeding. His robes were torn so badly, that he may as well have not been wearing any. At a moment of confused thought, James silently thanked that Sirius always wore boxer shorts under his robes.

Millicent started to prop Sirius up, and put a potion under his nose. Sirius started to stir, and he managed to blink his eyes. "Shhh" Millicent said as Sirius tried to speak, "Drink this" she said shoving another potion in his face, and poured it down his throat. It obviously didn't taste very good, as Sirius started to splutter all over the place.

"That's disgusting!" Sirius complained faintly.

"If you can taste it, you're going to be fine" Millicent smiled weakly, "Whinging is the first sign"

Douglas frowned slightly in thought, "We really should be getting him to St Mungo's" he then started to walk away from the couch.

"No" Sirius said strongly, obviously with more passion that Douglas had expected, as he'd stopped walking towards the family owl.

"You need serious help Sirius". James smiled slightly at the pun, his father had inadvertantly made, but quickly returned to looking worried.

"I can't go to St Mungo's" Sirius said firmly, "They'll find me!"

"Who'll find you?" Harrietta asked, "Who did this to you?"

Sirius remained silent.

"We should at least tell your family where you are" said Douglas kindly, "They'll be worrying"

"Not for the reasons you think" Sirius said spitefully under his breath, he said it so quitely, James was unsure whether his father had heard it, but James could tell by the look on his aunt's face, she certainly had.

"Now now, don't get yourself upset" Millicent said pushing Sirius back down on the couch, "You really need some rest"

"His family won't want to be bothered tonight" Harrietta said as a compromise, "We can tell them tomorrow, when Sirius is feeling better". Millicent nodded her head, and looked Douglas straight in the eye. Douglas rolled his eyes slightly, but didn't go towards the family owl, or the floo system. Instead he started to walk back up the stairs.

"I'm going to go back to sleep, some of us have to get up and go to work tomorrow" Douglas complained as he walked up the stairs.

"Please don't tell them where I am" Sirius croaked as Millicent poured yet another potion down his throat.

"We won't" Harrietta said softly, patting Sirius' head comfortingly.

"I'll put Sirius into the spare room" Millicent said, again drawing out her wand.

Harrietta nodded her agreement, and James just looked at Sirius' face in fear. Whatever potion Millicent had given Sirius, it had made the cuts to his face glow bright green.

"Is that supposed to happen?" he asked his mother.

She just smiled kindly, "Yes James, its most normal for those sorts of injuries"

"James, you mother is quite capable of healing Sirius" Harrietta said supportively, patting James on the back, "He'll be fine". With that Harrietta walked out of the room, towards the front door.

James was curious as to why she would do this, when he'd quite clearly said that Sirius hadn't brought anything with him. He got to the door just as Harrietta started to open it.

"I told you he didn't bring anything with him"

"I know you did" Harrietta replied. It was at this point that James noticed that Harrietta had put on her normal 'going out' robes. He hadn't noticed her change, as she must have magically done so on her way to the door.

"Where are you going?" James demanded of his Aunt, "Sirius asked you not to tell his family"

"I'm not going to his 'family' James" Harrietta said quickly, "And you aren't to say anything to your parents, just go off to bed". And with this Harrietta went off into the night, walking several steps away from the house into the darkness.

The only hint to what Harrietta was doing came to James with a loud 'crack'. She'd obviously apparated somewhere, where to, he didn't know.

James sighed, and walked back to the living room, to help his mother.

Sirius was sleeping, thanks to the potion Millicent had given him, so she had to levitate him up the stairs, and into the spare room. This was difficult, as Sirius was laying flat, the stairs were steep and she didn't want for him to hit his head on any walls.

Eventually, after some narrow misses with walls, and suits of armour, Millicent and James were able to get Sirius into the spare room.

Millicent didn't appear to notice that Harrietta was gone, but when James and her left the room, she looked around. "Where's Harrietta gone?" she asked James tiredly.

"I don't know, she didn't say"

Millicent sighed, "That girl is going to get herself into trouble one day"

"She can take care of herself" said James, starting to walk across the hallway to his own room.

James opened the door and started to walk through it when he heard his mother say, "I hope so"

As soon as James woke the next morning, he crept across the hallway to where Sirius was. He knocked quietly on the door, and then opened it.

Sirius had been sleeping peacefully, but had woken with the noise of James knocking. James walked in to see Sirius sitting up in the bed, with his hands placed on his legs.

"Sleep well?" James asked plopping down on the bed at Sirius' feet. He'd wanted to talk to Sirius since Harrietta had opened the door to him, but now that he was able to, James didn't know what to day.

"Yes" Sirius replied, "Comfy beds you've got here Prongs"

James sighed wryly, "With that potion my Mum gave you, you could slept on nails"

"How did your parents take it?" Sirius asked deliberately diverting his eyes away from James'.

"What do you mean?"

"Me turning up here like that?"

James looking at Sirius silently, using a trick his aunt had taught him, he knew that if he stayed silent long enough, Sirius would look at him. Sure enough, Sirius turned to face James. "They were happy to be able to help you, a little shocked at your appearance, but not worried by it at all"

"I couldn't think of anywhere else to go" Sirius said looking down at his hands.

"What happened to you?" James asked.

"The usual"

"What's the usual Padfoot?"

"You don't want to know"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know"

"Just trust me James, you don't want to know" Sirius said sternly, at the mention of his first name, James knew that Sirius truly meant what he was saying, he never used 'James'.

"So who did it to you?" James asked firmly.

"My Dad"

James face dropped in surprise. He knew that Sirius' parents didn't treat him well, but the last thing he'd expected, was the brutality that had been used on Sirius the night before.

"So that's why you didn't want my Dad to tell your family where you are?" said James softly, finally understanding what had happened.

"They won't be happy that I left"

James sighed sadly, and didn't know what to say to his friend. Luckily for James, he didn't have to, as there was a short curt knock on the door. It opened, and Millicent walked in.

"Feeling a little better this morning?" she asked Sirius.

"Yes thank you Mrs Potter"

Millicent looked slightly guilty as she started to fuss over Sirius, checking to see how he'd heeled. James couldn't understand what it was she could have to feel guilty about, and simply sat on the bed confused.

Noticing James' look, Millicent decided to confess, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation boys"

"So you heard it all?" Sirius said sadly.

"Yes" Millicent replied, apologetic, "And I want you to know Sirius, you are always welcome here"

"But I'm a Black!"

"I know you are dear, and that means nothing to me"

"But Mr Potter knows what the Black's are like" Sirius reasoned, "He won't want me here"

"Goodness Sirius" Millicent said sternly, "We all know that you aren't like the rest of your family, you are always welcome here"

"So can he stay for the rest of the holidays?" James asked cheerfully, as far as he was concerned, having Sirius around, couldn't be anything but fun.

"If Sirius wants to" Millicent smiled kindly at her son, and then at Sirius, "He can stay here as long as he wants"

"You're not worried about what my family will say?"

Millicent paused for a moment, and as she spoke James finally came to realise the true inner strength of his mother, "I'm not scared of your family, and neither is Mr Potter"

"Thank you" Sirius said finally looking brighter.

"Now its time for breakfast boys" Millicent declared, changing the subject, "James why don't you get Sirius some of your clothes, and then come down stairs"

James sat there beaming at his mother, he'd been unsure how she would take Sirius' arrival, but he now realised how great his parents were. He knew that his father wouldn't be pleased about Sirius staying there, but James realised that his father couldn't say no to his wife.

"Right away" James laughed, "We can't have him walking around like that"

James then went quickly back to his room, grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt, as well as a set of robes. He then went back to Sirius' room, and set them down on the bed. "There you go" James said brightly, "Now hurry up and change Padfoot, Minny makes a great breakfast!"

"Is Minny your house elf?" Sirius asked stepping out of his bed.

"Yes"

"I hope she's more pleasant that ours"

James smiled slightly, "She's as pleasant as the ones at Hogwarts"

Sirius laughed, "So in other words she'll feed us until we pop"

"Exactly". And with that, James turned and walked out of the room, to let Sirius change.

While he was waiting for Sirius to emerge from the room, James went and checked on Harrietta. He knocked on her door and waited for her to say he could come in. It didn't come so James opened the door. He looked in to see that Harrietta's bed hadn't been slept in. He frowned slightly, and went back out to meet Sirius at the entry to his room.

"Where's Harrietta?" Sirius asked.

James paused slightly, and then spoke, "Not sure, she might already be downstairs". James didn't want to tell Sirius how she'd left the night before, or what she'd said, he was sure it was nothing.

Even so, as he walked down the stairs to the dining room, James was starting to worry about his Aunt, and her whereabouts.

_ahhhhh... another slight cliffhanger, sorry, you're going to have to wait to find out where Harrietta has gone..._


	8. Harrietta Explains

When James and Sirius were both seated at the table, both facing the other, and with Douglas and Millicent at each end of the table, Douglas looked up from his morning paper. He had noticed James and Sirius walk into the room, and then continued to look behind them, at the stairs.

"Isn't Harrietta up yet?" he asked James.

James was silent.

"James your father asked you a question" Millicent said sharply.

James again was silent.

"Did you try to wake her?" Douglas asked.

James thought carefully about what it was he was going to say.

"I did knock on her door"

Douglas waved his hand at James, to say to continue.

"But she didn't reply"

"So did you go in?" Millicent asked.

"Yes I did"

Sirius throughout the conversation had simply stared at his plate, he was looking extremely uncomfortable.

"And was she in there?" Douglas asked impatiently.

"No"

Sirius looked up from his plate, and straight at James.

"Then where is she?" Douglas demanded.

"I don't know"

"Had her bed been slept in?" a worried Millicent asked, he face was growing more worried by the second.

James again thought long and hard about his reply. Sirius' face was growing all the more worried with every word from James. James suddenly started to feel bad about lying to Sirius about where Harrietta was.

"I don't believe so" James eventually replied.

"What do you mean you don't believe so James" Douglas said with his cheeks flushing with anger, and voice suddenly growing louder.

"It didn't look like it had been slept in" James answered, starting to sink lower in his seat.

Douglas took in a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke again, "When was the last time you saw your Aunt?"

"Last night"

"Where was she going when you saw her?" Douglas said, obviously growing tired of James not answering properly.

"I don't know"

Sirius finally found a voice, "I asked for my family not to be told of my whereabouts"

James sat up quickly and spoke, he wanted to try to calm down his friend, as well as his father, "She said she wasn't going to see your family"

Douglas looked like he was about to explode. "Where else would she go in the middle of the night!"

"I really can't say I know" said James quietly, yet again trying not to anger his father any further.

"Can't or won't" Millicent added in to the conversation.

"I can't say, because I don't know" James said firmly.

"James Godric Potter, you will tell us where your blasted aunt was going" Douglas said loudly, standing up from his chair. As he did so he knocked the table, and glasses fell over spilling their contents.

Millicent drew her wand and mumbled some sort of incantation James couldn't here to clean it all up.

"I don't know where she is" James said again sinking back down in his seat.

"You are lying James" Douglas yelled, "Don't lie!"

"He's not lying" a familiar voice said from behind James. Everyone looked around quickly to see Harrietta standing at the doorway.

"Where in blazes have you been!" Douglas demanded.

"Harrietta I asked you not to tell my family" Sirius said quickly, James couldn't pick whether he was angry or scared.

"Why would you go off in the middle of the night to the House of Black!" Douglas continued, "Of all the stupid things you could have done Harrietta that has to be the stupidest!"

"But I didn't go to the House of Black" Harrietta countered.

"Then where did you go in the middle of the night" Douglas asked, trying to calm himself down. Millicent and joined him at his side, and was looking just as insistently at Harrietta. James and Sirius were both still seated at the table, but James had turned his chair slightly, so he could also face Harrietta.

Harrietta looked at her brother defiantly, it seemed like she was debating to herself whether she should tell him what she'd been doing. Eventually she chose to speak; "I went to fetch some people who could help Sirius"

"Who in my family did you tell where I was?" Sirius asked standing up from his seat and walking around the table, closer to Harrietta. James had never seen his friend look as worried as he was at that precise moment. It caused James to stand from his seat, and walk over to stand beside his friend.

"Only me" a voice said from around the doorway. Harrietta stood beside to let another young woman through.

"Andromeda!" Sirius yelled happily as he ran towards the young woman, when Sirius reached her, he through his arms around her. James studied Andromeda closely, she was as tall as his Aunt, thereby only a few inches taller than James himself. Her hair was red, quite different to any of the other Black's James had met. It fell casually to her shoulders in curls. She was a similar frame to Sirius, strong yet slim, overall, it was easy to tell she was a relative of Sirius', James was just uncertain how.

James then realised that Andromeda was a name that Harrietta had used several days before, when she'd been saying how not all of the Black's were evil. James' father had said that she wasn't really a Black, and James was just starting to think about how muggles had been mentioned in the conversation, when a voice interrupted James' thinking.

"As powerful as Andromeda may be, how exactly is she going to help Sirius?" Douglas demanded starting to wave his arms around. James noticed that he had calmed significantly when he'd seen Harrietta, but his waving of arms, was a sure sign that he still wasn't at all happy. Even so, James suspected that a lot of his father's anger had been at not knowing whether his sister was safe, and not so much because of what she'd quite obviously done, though what she'd done was still reckless.

"She's here for comfort" Harrietta replied, "Alistair here is here to help" Harrietta again stood aside from the doorway, to let someone else walk in. This was a person James recognised easily; it was Alistair Moody, an old friend of Douglas'.

"Alistair" Douglas greeted him warmly, "What are you doing here?"

Alistair looked Douglas straight in the eye and replied, "Harrietta has convinced me that speaking to young Sirius here, could be quite helpful"

Douglas scoffed a little, "This is hardly something for the head auror; this is simply a case of a very cruel family"

"A very cruel family who have been associating with some particularly unsavoury types of late" Alistair replied not losing a beat.

"Why would you be worried about that? The Black's never associate with savoury sorts" Douglas scoffed.

James sneaked a quick glance at his friend; Sirius seemed to be taking the insulting of his family better than James would have. "Don't tell me my sister here has you involved in her strange scheme?" Douglas asked nastily.

"It's not as strange as you may believe" Alistair responded, "In fact, I think she's on to something"

"She's got you believing that there's another Dark Lord rising?" Douglas laughed. James noticed Harrietta scowl at her brother.

"I'm not the only one who is listening to her" Alistair replied, stopping Harrietta from speaking "Albus Dumbledore read her last report, and now he's listening also"

Douglas paused, and a completely different look came over his face; "That is different" Douglas said quietly, most of the color had drained away from his face, "Maybe I should listen to it then"

"You mean you haven't even read your sister's report?" Andromeda asked clearly shocked. Andromeda was still standing beside Sirius, with her arm placed around his shoulders, it was more a 'big sister' pose than anything else, and Sirius looked calmer than James had seen since he'd arrived.

Harrietta rolled her eyes quite clearly to emphasise her point; "He wouldn't listen and refused to read it" Harrietta responded looking straight at her brother, "Still thinks I'm 16"

"I'll listen to you now" Douglas said quietly, walking back over to the table and sitting down"Dumbledore was one of the major players in the downfall of the last Dark Lord"

Alistair laughed an uncomfortable laugh"He was the one who caused it you mean"

"Yes that's exactly what I mean. He was the one to convince my father what was happening"

Harrietta looked shocked, this clearly was something she'd never known, James had never heard this before either, and made a mental note to read his book more carefully.

Douglas sighed and stopped his sister from saying anything, "I'll explain that later, why don't you tell us what you know so far"

"First James and Sirius should leave the room" said Millicent. James looked around at his mother, he'd gotten so caught up in the conversation, he'd almost forgotten she was there. He was shocked only for a moment that his mother wasn't going to let him hear Harrietta out, then he remembered that this was the woman who didn't want him reading "The fall of Grindelwald". No matter what, James wanted to say, he knew that what Harrietta had told him the first night he was home, was a very limited version of events. James wanted to know about it all.

"But Mum!" he complained.

Harrietta looked straight at her sister in law, "Sirius plays a large part in all of this" she said slowly, "He needs to stay for you to hear what he has to say. And James needs to know as well"

"You can't tell me what my son needs to know" Millicent said sharply, voice slowly rising into a yell.

"Milli" Douglas said warmly, "Sit down please dear, I think that if what Harri has been suggesting is happening, James will need to know about it"

"What do you mean what Harri has been suggesting?" Millicent demanded.

Doulgas sighed; he'd only slightly been listening to what Harrietta had been trying to tell him. It was obvious that the fact that both Alistair Moody and Albus Dumbledore had been listening to her, had shook him up. "Something about the rising of another Dark Lord, if this is what's happening, James needs to know"

Millicent grumbled, but reluctantly sat back down at her seat at the able. Harrietta took her usual seat beside Sirius, and Alistair sat down beside James.

"Now begin Harrietta" Douglas said once everyone was seated, "You have our full attention"


	9. The Full Explanation Part 1

_A/N: I know I've received feedback... I'm just yet to learn exactly how to respond to it... I'll find out soon enough though.. I just wanted to thank everyone who has responded.. It is MUCH appreciated :D_

"Well we'd all know about the reporting's of the Daily Prophet about a rising of a evil Dark Lord, they are already calling you-know-who"

Douglas groaned, "I hope that's not what this is all about, because its rubbish, I'd know about it if there was another Dark Lord around. They're just trying to sell new books on the market about protecting oneself and your family"

"Well they are actually telling parts of the truth; there has been an increase of muggle attacks" Harrietta started.

"We know about them" Millicent replied, "but that is always happening, you're always going to have wizards who hate muggles"

"Not that that's an excuse" Douglas said looking particularly carefully at Sirius and then James. James and Sirius nodded their agreement.

"Add to that; meetings of several 'influential' pure-blooded families and increasing support for Trefucus Malfoy as the next Minister of Magic"

Douglas and Millicent groaned. Sirius refusing to look at anyone, Andromeda was looking directly at Harrietta, engrossed in what she was saying. James however was confused as to what has happening.

"What does that mean?" James asked.

Millicent replied to him quite sternly, "Nevermind…"

Douglas interrupted his wife, "Trefucus Malfoy has policies that would lead to the discovery of the magical world by muggles"

"Which means that we'd end up going to war with them; resulting in the destruction of the muggles" James carried on.

Millicent frowned at her son, and then looked accusingly at Harrietta, Douglas simply smiled a little.

"Exactly" Douglas replied, looking quite proud of his son.

"What we believe is that there is some one who is encouraging all pure-bloods to vote for him, there's been quite a campaign" Harrietta continued.

Alistair chose this time to speak, "There has been a rather large ad campaign in favour for him in the Quibbler"

Andromeda sighed, "Its just not as reliable anymore, the Quibbler used to always tell the true stories, now its getting as bad as the Daily Prophet"

"The stories are telling us how terrible muggles are and how they are adversely effecting out world" said Harrietta.

"That's well and good" Millicent said sharply, "But that doesn't mean that there's going to be another rising of a Dark Lord"

"Not singly" Harrietta replied, "No it doesn't. Well nothing is definite, but it does give a real good picture of what's happening. But I'll admit, with only that information, we've really nothing concrete. But; add in what happened to Sirius and what he knows and there's a definite pattern, and we all know where it leads"

"So what's this got to do with Sirius?" Douglas asked.

"I'll leave that for Sirius to tell?" Harrietta said, looking kindly at Sirius, "I think what happened to you, might have something to do with the overall plan"

"So you don't know?" Millicent asked Harrietta, "So this might not actually be happening?"

Harrietta sighed, "Yes it's happening, I just want Sirius to tell us"

Millicent continued her questions, "How do you know what Sirius knows?"

Harrietta went to speak, but Sirius interrupted, "She used legilimency"

"She what?" James, Douglas and Millicent asked at once. Harrietta simply looked at Sirius in surprise.

"She used legilimency, to see what had happened to me" Sirius said looking up at Douglas and then at Harrietta.

"How did you know that?" Harrietta asked, laughing.

Sirius looked away from Harrietta's gaze, Andromeda was the one who spoke up for him, "It's part of the training of a Black, legilimency and occlumency studies, it starts at the age of 8"

"So Sirius knew that I was doing it?" Harrietta asked.

"Yes" Sirius replied, "From the first moment you looked at me"

"I didn't notice you doing it" said James surprised, he'd thought that he'd noticed everything that had happened that night.

Sirius continued in a monotone of disinterest, "Advanced legilimency doesn't need eye contact"

"So do you feel up to telling us what happened?" Douglas asked kindly.

Sirius shook his head. Andromeda patted Sirius kindly on the back, and whispered something in his ear.

"There was a meeting at my home" Sirius started, James noticed that Sirius wouldn't look anyone in the eye, instead preferring to look around the room. "My brother and I were to serve them food and drinks"

"Must have been a pretty important meeting if they wouldn't let house elves serve them" Andromeda commented, Alistair nodded his agreement.

"So who were there?" Alistair asked.

Sirius rattled off several names that James didn't recognise, but it was clear that Douglas, Millicent and Alistair all did, as their faces grew more and more worried with every name.

"That's not good" Douglas said gravely.

"So many of them in the one place, that doesn't happen often" Millicent admitted.

"Actually it does" Sirius interrupted, "There have been several meetings lately."

"With all of those people? Asked Alistair.

"Not all of them, but at least 3 of them at once"

"It was a pretty important meeting" Harrietta concluded, "That's obvious"

"So something pretty important is going to happen" said Douglas looking more and more worried.

James was sure that at this point his mother and father were convinced of what Harrietta was saying. James still didn't know all of the facts, but he too was growing ever so worried. As young as James was, he'd still read a bit about the fall of Grindelwald, he wasn't even half way through his new book and he was already remembering parts of a History of Magic lesson.

"They were planning some attack on a pure-blooded family" Sirius continued, "They were trying to make it look like muggles had done it"

Douglas scoffed, "And how were they planning to do that?" Both Douglas and Alistair were looking sceptical. James turned back to his friend, and he continued.

"I'm not sure" Sirius replied, "They didn't get to that section"

James couldn't help but notice how mature his friend was being, James didn't know how he would have reacted in similar circumstances. Yet again, James started to be incredibly thankful for his parents.

"Why not?" Alistair asked. Suddenly James' mind went back to what the topic was about. James looked back at his friend, who was looking more and more uncomfortable. In fact, faced with the new question, Sirius was very upset; he couldn't speak, and just looked down at his hands on the table.

Harrietta looked at Sirius carefully, "Would you like me to tell them?"

Sirius nodded, but didn't look up.

"They were planning an attack on us"

Douglas and Millicent seemed to stop breathing. Things started to go a little purple for James, but then he realised that he wasn't breathing.

"So when you say us, do you mean you, me, Milli and James?" Douglas gasped after what seemed like hours of silence, "An attack on us?"

Harrietta looked at her brother grimly, "Mostly you and I" she replied, "As we're from an old pure-blooded family"

"So I'm not pure-blooded enough" said Millicent quite obviously offended, "I'll have you know that my family go back to the times of Merlin!"

James could see his aunt stifle a giggle, and his father roll his eyes, "I hardly think that them thinking you're not pure-blooded enough is a bad thing my dear; they are after all, thinking of killing us". James also grinned. His mother was constantly talking about how old her family were, and how terrible it was that they were recognised as an old pure-blooded wizarding family, purely because there had been 2 cases of sqwibs in their family.

"Yes" said Millicent, realising what exactly she'd said, "I suppose you're right"

"So what happened?" James asked, no one else seemed to know how to react to what Harrietta had said, but James was curious as to what else his friend had heard.

Harrietta looked at Sirius, to see whether he would answer, once she was quite sure he wasn't going to, she spoke instead. "To make a long horrible story short, they discovered that Sirius had overheard them, and started cursing and hexing him. They caught him, and tied him up, and then he escaped, and came here". James looked at Sirius as his aunt spoke, it was clear to him that what she had said was only a small part of what had happened. Sirius was sitting closer and closer to Andromeda, snuggling and looking for comfort.

"And you're quite sure that this is all true Harrietta?" Alistair asked, "The Black's have been known too…."

"It's the truth" interrupted Sirius looking up, and sitting up in his chair again. This Sirius was one that James had only seen on occasion, usually when faced with an angry Minerva McGonnagall. It was a serious faced Sirius. Though James could always tell the difference between a sincere Sirius serious face, and an insincere Sirius serious face, and there wasn't a doubt in James' fine, that Sirius was quite serious about what he was saying. All of a sudden a shiver ran up James' spine, also a quiet groan came from his mouth, as he remembered Sirius' pun about always being 'Serious' (Sirius).

"And not all Black's are the same" added Andromeda lightly patting Sirius on the shoulder.

Alistair looked suitably abashed, and looked away from both Harrietta and Andromeda, it appeared he was satisfied with the story.

Everyone at the dining table were silent, James noticed that Harrietta was looked quite closely at her brother. He was unsure whether she was using legilimency on Douglas, or whether she was simply staring at him. Either way, it was Douglas that broke the silence. "Then you must stay here Sirius"

Suddenly Sirius' face lit up. "Here," he said hurriedly, "With you ?"

"Yes" Douglas replied, "It seems we owe you a few favours"

"You don't have to take him Douglas" said Andromeda, "We'd gladly take him"

"But Andy you're so busy lately with little Nymphadora" said Harrietta, "Besides, you having Sirius would put all of you at risk, it seems we're already at risk, so why not add a little more" she replied quite cheerfully. Millicent looked shocked at the thought of them all being at risk, but said nothing.

"We'll even feed and cloth you Sirius" Harrietta said brightly, winking at him, "I've plenty of pink robes you can have"

James scoffed at the thought of Sirius in a pink robe; he then laughed out loud at the thought of Harrietta owning a pink robe.

"James has plenty of clothes" Douglas said warmly, "What you don't have, we can buy you"

"You don't have to do that" Andromeda said, "I'll pay for any expenses"

"Nonsense Andromeda" Harrietta said sharply, "It was through us Sirius got into this mess, and we'll pay for any expenses he may have, besides, as already mentioned you've already a lot on your plate"

"We'll unofficially adopt you Sirius" Millicent said with what James saw as false cheerfulness, "I always wanted another son" she then smiled what appeared to be a true smile. James smiled to himself, he knew what that smile meant. It meant that Millicent was going to fuss over Sirius as she fussed over James. James was comforted in the thought that Sirius would need it after what his family had put him through.

"This way we get to spend the rest of the holiday planning things for next year" said James with a large cheeky grin on his face, "For our business as such" he added quieter.

"A business?" asked Douglas with a raised eyebrow "I don't think I want to hear about this"

Harrietta laughed, "No I don't think I want to either"

"I think that we should discuss some other things" Alistair said dramatically. It appeared that all of the adults knew what he meant, and Millicent stood up from her chair.

"James why don't you show Sirius around the house, and find him some clothes, we'll order him some new clothes tomorrow, so it'll just be for today and tomorrow"

James' face dropped a bit, but he looked at his friend, who looked exceedingly uncomfortable, and suddenly James started to think what Sirius had been through. So he stood, and motioned for his friend to follow him out the door.

Once out the door, James turned back to his friend, "I'm going to do you a favour, and not mention this again, but I want to say something first"

"Go ahead Prongs" sighed Sirius, looking down at his feet just waiting for something major to be said.

"Thank you" said James quite simply. Sirius looked up at his friend and smiled grimly.

"That's alright"

"Now let's go and find you some clothes, and start planning" said James cheerfully.


	10. The Full Explantion Part 2

Douglas and Millicent seemed to stop breathing. Things started to go a little purple for James, but then he realised that he wasn't breathing. 

"So when you say us, do you mean you, me, Milli and James?" Douglas gasped after what seemed like hours of silence, "An attack on us?"

Harrietta looked at her brother grimly, "Mostly you and I" she replied, "As we're from an old pure-blooded family"

"So I'm not pure-blooded enough" said Millicent quite obviously offended, "I'll have you know that my family go back to the times of Merlin!"

James could see his aunt stifle a giggle, and his father roll his eyes, "I hardly think that them thinking you're not pure-blooded enough is a bad thing my dear; they are after all, thinking of killing us". James also grinned. His mother was constantly talking about how old her family were, and how terrible it was that they were recognised as an old pure-blooded wizarding family, purely because there had been 2 cases of sqwibs in their family.

"Yes" said Millicent, realising what exactly she'd said, "I suppose you're right"

"So what happened?" James asked, no one else seemed to know how to react to what Harrietta had said, but James was curious as to what else his friend had heard.

Harrietta looked at Sirius, to see whether he would answer, once she was quite sure he wasn't going to, she spoke instead. "To make a long horrible story short, they discovered that Sirius had overheard them, and started cursing and hexing him. They caught him, and tied him up, and then he escaped, and came here". James looked at Sirius as his aunt spoke, it was clear to him that what she had said was only a small part of what had happened. Sirius was sitting closer and closer to Andromeda, snuggling and looking for comfort.

"And you're quite sure that this is all true Harrietta?" Alistair asked, "The Black's have been known too…."

"It's the truth" interrupted Sirius looking up, and sitting up in his chair again. This Sirius was one that James had only seen on occasion, usually when faced with an angry Minerva McGonnagall. It was a serious faced Sirius. Though James could always tell the difference between a sincere Sirius serious face, and an insincere Sirius serious face, and there wasn't a doubt in James' fine, that Sirius was quite serious about what he was saying. All of a sudden a shiver ran up James' spine, also a quiet groan came from his mouth, as he remembered Sirius' pun about always being 'Serious' (Sirius).

"And not all Black's are the same" added Andromeda lightly patting Sirius on the shoulder.

Alistair looked suitably abashed, and looked away from both Harrietta and Andromeda, it appeared he was satisfied with the story.

Everyone at the dining table were silent, James noticed that Harrietta was looked quite closely at her brother. He was unsure whether she was using legilimency on Douglas, or whether she was simply staring at him. Either way, it was Douglas that broke the silence. "Then you must stay here Sirius"

Suddenly Sirius' face lit up. "Here," he said hurriedly, "With you ?"

"Yes" Douglas replied, "It seems we owe you a few favours"

"You don't have to take him Douglas" said Andromeda, "We'd gladly take him"

"But Andy you're so busy lately with little Nymphadora" said Harrietta, "Besides, you having Sirius would put all of you at risk, it seems we're already at risk, so why not add a little more" she replied quite cheerfully. Millicent looked shocked at the thought of them all being at risk, but said nothing. 

"We'll even feed and cloth you Sirius" Harrietta said brightly, winking at him, "I've plenty of pink robes you can have"

James scoffed at the thought of Sirius in a pink robe; he then laughed out loud at the thought of Harrietta owning a pink robe.

"James has plenty of clothes" Douglas said warmly, "What you don't have, we can buy you"

"You don't have to do that" Andromeda said, "I'll pay for any expenses"

"Nonsense Andromeda" Harrietta said sharply, "It was through us Sirius got into this mess, and we'll pay for any expenses he may have, besides, as already mentioned you've already a lot on your plate"

"We'll unofficially adopt you Sirius" Millicent said with what James saw as false cheerfulness, "I always wanted another son" she then smiled what appeared to be a true smile. James smiled to himself, he knew what that smile meant. It meant that Millicent was going to fuss over Sirius as she fussed over James. James was comforted in the thought that Sirius would need it after what his family had put him through. 

"This way we get to spend the rest of the holiday planning things for next year" said James with a large cheeky grin on his face, "For our business as such" he added quieter.

"A business?" asked Douglas with a raised eyebrow "I don't think I want to hear about this"

Harrietta laughed, "No I don't think I want to either"

"I think that we should discuss some other things" Alistair said dramatically. It appeared that all of the adults knew what he meant, and Millicent stood up from her chair.

"James why don't you show Sirius around the house, and find him some clothes, we'll order him some new clothes tomorrow, so it'll just be for today and tomorrow"

James' face dropped a bit, but he looked at his friend, who looked exceedingly uncomfortable, and suddenly James started to think what Sirius had been through. So he stood, and motioned for his friend to follow him out the door.

Once out the door, James turned back to his friend, "I'm going to do you a favour, and not mention this again, but I want to say something first"

"Go ahead Prongs" sighed Sirius, looking down at his feet just waiting for something major to be said.

"Thank you" said James quite simply. Sirius looked up at his friend and smiled grimly.

"That's alright"

"Now let's go and find you some clothes, and start planning" said James cheerfully.


	11. Sirius's full introduction to Potter Plc

Authors note:- _Because I've been so slack with not updating, I've decided to update two in one go.. Hopefully I'll be able to update more often…._

James and Sirius continued to walk up the stairs. James pointed at the room which Sirius had slept in the night before, "That's going to be your room for the rest of the summer" James said cheerfully, "And its right across the corridor from mine"

"I still can't believe your parents are doing this" Sirius said quietly, "They really don't have to"

James sighed as he looked at his friend, he'd never seen Sirius look so depressed, and that included the times that his pranks had failed on Severous Snape. "Sirius; you are now officially an adopted part of the Potter family"

"But that's exactly what I mean, why would you want to adopt someone who's family is planning on killing you!" Sirius said angrily. 

James looked seriously at his friend, "I thought we weren't going to mention that again; but to answer your question, my family believe that there is more to a wizard than the family they come from"

"So why do you hate Severous Snape so much?" Sirius asked quietly. James was taken aback by the question. It was something that he'd never really thought about, he'd simply hated Severous for so much of his life, that he'd started to forget why he did so in the first place.

"Because he's a slimy git" James said cheerfully, not wanting to go into the real reason with his friend. "Now let's find you some clothes to wear"

James walked over to his cupboard and pulled out a spare pair of pajama's for Sirius. The bottom part of the pajama's had love hearts all over them, while the shirt was just a plain black t-shirt. James passed them to Sirius, who started to laugh straight away.

"What?" a confused James asked.

Sirius was unable to reply, as he was too busy laughing. Instead he just held up the short's with the love hearts all over them.

"What's wrong with them?" James asked seriously.

Sirius managed to gather himself up enough to be able to speak. "Nothing mate,"

"Sirius, there's obviously something you thought as funny"

"I just never saw you as the sort to have hearts on your PJ's"

James took a closer look at the shorts that Sirius was holding, blushed slightly and quickly snapped them back. "My Mum bought them" he said, "I never wear them" James stuffed them back in the draw them had come from, and pulled out another pair of shorts. "Here, where these then"

Sirius took a quick look at the shorts. Seeing that they were simply a set with wizards flying around on broomsticks, he was satisfied and didn't say a word.

"Mum and Dad said that they would send away from more clothes for you by Owl, so I needn't find you too many sets of clothes" James said closing the draw. He opened another and pulled out 2 pairs of jeans, and 2 shirts. Then he stepped over to the hanging part of the cupboard and pulled out a set of robes. "Here you go, that should do you for a while"

"Thanks Prongs" Sirius replied. He had been humbled by the reception he'd received by the Potter's, and had suddenly found himself unable to speak.

"Are you alright mate?" James asked.

"Yeah"

"You want to write a letter to Remus and Peter and tell them you're here?"

"Maybe later"

"Do you want to have a rest?" James asked, eyeing Sirius suspiciously, his friend had been through a lot over the previous night and had had to relive it that morning. James figured that Sirius was probably just tired.

"I guess that might help"

All of a sudden, James remembered how much of a hygiene nut Sirius was. He was the sort to take 2 or 3 showers a day. "Do you want to take a shower or anything like that first?"

Sirius' eyes lit up slightly, he'd been feeling dirty, after not having had a shower for more than a day, and he'd gotten quite a sweat up the night before. "That'd be great"

"If you go out of this room, go right down the corridor, the room at the end of the corridor is the bathroom, take a set of these clothes, and everything else you could possibly need is in there"

"Thanks Prongs, that's just what I need" Sirius smiled warmly.

James watched his friend walk out of the room. He sat back down on his bed, and sighed. There had been so much for him to think about that morning. He felt bad about what Sirius had been through, but at the same time was quite pleased that he was now to be living at the Potter's. It was a much better situation for Sirius to live in, and James realised that at least at the Potter's, Sirius wasn't going to be in the half the amount of danger he would have been at the House of Black. That was unless he walked in on Harrietta in the shower. James laughed to himself, his aunt always was quick to anger when he shower's were interrupted.

James quickly got up from his bed and ran towards the corridor, "Knock before you enter!" he yelled out to Sirius. But it was too late. Sirius had already opened the door. The door started screaming, and panels of the door started to bang Sirius over the head. "Let go of the handle!" James yelled half laughing. Sirius couldn't hear him, and just continued to try to open the door. It was obvious that Sirius was starting to anger, and his right hand had started to rummage around his pockets for his wand.

James ran up to the end of the corridor, and managed to get Sirius to let go of the door handle just as Sirius was about to hex the door.

Sirius just stood looking at the door angrily, and James had ended up on the floor from pulling Sirius back. James started to roll around on the floor laughing, mostly at what had happened, but partly because of the look on Sirius' face.

Sirius turned around behind him, and started to look angrily at James.

In between laughs James managed to get out a "Sorry mate"

"This isn't the bathroom is it?" Sirius asked, calming down slightly, and simply eyeing his friend suspiciously.

"It is" James managed to say.

"Then why did it do that?"

"Aunt… Harri… hates… people… not… knocking…"

"So she's hexed the door to do that?" Sirius asked slightly bemused.

"Its some sort of charm I think" James replied finally stopping laughing, "I'd forgotten all about it, and I just always knock"

Sirius chuckled lightly, knocked on the door, and it opened automatically. "I'll try to remember that"


	12. Owls Arrive

_A/N:- Sorry I'd uploaded the wrong chapter... This is the real "Owls Arrive"... Sorry about that...   
_

James left Sirius to have a shower, and went back downstairs.

He found his Aunt sitting by herself in the lounge room. Thinking that she obviously needed some cheering up, James told her what had happened to Sirius.

As James was explaining the look on Sirius' face as the door had started to hit him over the head, Harrietta started to laugh.

"I guess I should take that off when I leave" Harrietta said, still chuckling at the thought of Sirius being hit over the head.

'What do you mean?" James asked worried, "You can't leave now!"

Harrietta looked at her nephew sadly, "I'm afraid James, that I must leave in the next few days"

"But things are too dangerous!" James exclaimed, "There are people looking to kill you!"

Harrietta laughed an uneasy laugh, "There are always people trying to kill me, I'm an auror, and a Potter"

"But its that last point that is going to get you killed!" James continued, "You know what it is that Sirius heard, the Black's want to kill the Potter's!"

"James I am still need out there by other people!" Harrietta explained, "I'm doing no one any good hiding away in here"

"But you'll be killed!" James said close to tears.

"James let me tell you something your Grandfather once told me, it's better to die standing, than to live life on your knees, do you understand?"

"In other words, you'd rather die, than live in hiding" James answered.

"Not so much, hiding isn't such a bad thing, I'll sort of be doing that, but I'll still be trying to do as much as I can, to work against this new dark force"

"Why can't you do that from here?" James whined.

"That would put you and your mother in too much danger" Harrietta explained.

James looked up at her carefully; and thought about what she'd said.

"What's to happen with Sirius?" James said quietly, hoping that Sirius wasn't to enter the room too soon.

"He's to stay here."

"Won't his family come looking for him?"

Harrietta bit her lip as she was accustomed to do when deep in thought.

"I doubt they will for a while"

James looked at her confused.

"They'll be too busy looking for me"

"So Sirius isn't to leave the house?" James asked.

"He probably shouldn't" Harrietta said carefully, "But I'll work on something for that" she smiled a little at James' confusion, but instead of saying anything, she simply went up to her room.

It was later that same day that Harrietta left the house. No one spoke of Harrietta or of what Sirius had gone through; it appeared they had all decided that it was too uncomfortable to talk about.

Instead things seemed to go back to normal; which in itself confused James. Sirius fitted into the family as if he was a Potter. He and James spent most days reading books from Douglas' library. They had both decided that they wanted to be Aurors like Harrietta. They assumed that they would get enough OWLS to do the appropriate subjects, and they were just preparing for their NEWTS.

They were studing varied subjects, from the downfall of every Dark Lord they had been in History, to the History of Magic itself. They were learning as many spells as they could; preparing for their return to Hogwarts.

James didn't even think of his OWLS results, until two official looking letters arrived by Owl for James and Sirius.

They were sitting in the study, reading when the letters dropped into their laps.

"Oi" Sirius said shaken a little, he'd been deep in thought.

"OWLS" James said looking at the letter carefully.

"Our results" Sirius said calmly, yet appearing to be afraid to open the letter he was holding in his hand.

"Should we open them?" James asked.

"I don't know"

"I think we should"

"I don't know if I want to" Sirius replied standing. He started to pace backwards and forwards around the room.

"They'll be good results though" James said hopfully.

"They'd better be"

"You don't have to worry about your family anymore Sirius" James said carefully; not wanting to upset his friend.

"I know"

"Then why are you worried about it?"

"Because I want good enough results to be an Auror"

"I'm sure Dumbledore would let us take the subjects we need regardless"

"I'm not sure McGonagall would" Sirius said sadly.

James grinned. "Sure she would, isn't she always saying we should take things more seriously, we'd take this seriously"

"I don't think she'd believe us" Sirius smiled.

"We'll make her"

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Since when can either of us two convince McGonagall of anything?"

James just smiled again. "We can't." he paused, "We'll just get Remus to do it for us"

"He's always able to con McGonagall, I really think that's something I should learn"

"We'll try to do that this year" James agreed, "It's something we'd need as the Ministry's top Aurors"

"Why's that?"

"So we can get to the top of the ministry, you'd cause us to get into too much trouble, and we need to be able to talk our way out of it"

"Me!" Sirius asked "I get us into trouble?"

"Yes" James replied.

"I think you're mistaken mate, I'm pretty sure it's you that gets us into trouble all of the time"

"No Padfoot old friend, you're the one mistaken"

Sirius and James looked at each other and laughed.

James was the one to speak first, "How about we just say its all Peter's fault?"

"OK"

"Now how about we open these letter's" James said carefully, lifting up his again. He didn't want to open it, he knew that if the results weren't good enough, he wouldn't be getting the new broomstick his mother had promised. As much as James wanted to be an auror, he still wanted to play Quidditch as well, he wouldn't be able to impress Lily being an auror. James was sure it would be far too dangerous a job in Lily's opinion.

"I'll open mine after you Prongs"

"No, you go first, I insist"

"How about we open them at the same time" Sirius conceded.

"I think I can do that"

"One the count of 3?" Sirius asked.

"How about the count of 5?" James replied.

"Ok"

James and Sirius started to count together; "1… 2… 3… 4… 5…"


	13. Owl results

_Well I've finally found some time to update... So here you go..._

Simultaneously James and Sirius ripped open their results.

James looked quickly down the page

On behalf of Hogwarts school of wizardry and witchcraft, I would like to inform you, James Godric Potter, of your Ordinary Wizarding Levels.   
The marking key is as follows,  
**O Outstanding  
E Exceeds Expectations  
A Average  
P Poor  
D Dismal**

History of Magic - E  
Transfiguration - O  
Charms - O  
Defence against the Dark Arts - O  
Herbology - O  
Muggle Studies - O  
Potions - O

A following letter will be sent to you at a later date in regards to your subject choices for next year.

Yours Sincerely  
Albus Dumbledore  
Deputy-Headmaster

James looked at his marks once again. No matter how hard he looked, he kept on seeing the same marks. He'd known that he had done well on his tests, but there was no way that he expected 6 OWLS. James looked up from his letter, and looked at Sirius. He too seemed to be confused by his results.

"What did you get?" Sirius asked as he looked up at James.

"What did you get?" James retorted. There was no way that James wanted to embaress his friend if Sirius hadn't received similar results.

"I asked you first"

"But I asked you last!"

"Exactly" Sirius replied, "That means you have to answer first"

James looked at his friend closely. He tried to determine by Sirius' face what his marks had been. On close examination, James realised why it was he never one when playing Wizarding Poker with Sirius. Sirius had no 'tells'. It was impossible to tell from his face what he was thinking.

Sighing in defeat, James passed his results to Sirius, and waited.

All of a sudden Sirius let out a large "Whoop" and "Yeehah!"

This startled James who was brought to his feat.

"What?" James asked quite confused by his friends behaviour.

"I beat you I beat you" Sirius started chanting, whilst dancing around the room.

"How did you manage to beat me!" said James trying to catch up to Sirius so that he could see Sirius' results.

"I got all O's" Sirius explained.

"That's not possible!" James complained, "No one could have gotten an O for History of Magic! I almost fell asleep in the test!"

"I think I may have fallen asleep" Sirius laughed, still jiving around the room, "But I still aced it!"

"What's going on in here?" asked Millicent sternly from the doorway, "Why are you two making so much noise!"

James grinned at his friend, yanked his letter from Sirius' hand, and ran over to his mother. All the while shouting "You owe me a new Broome!"

Millicent was quite shocked by her sons behaviour, until she looked at the letter herself, as usual when it came to James, her first thought was suspicion. "You didn't make these up yourselves did you?" she asked.

James fawned a hurt expression, "Mother, would I ever do such a thing?"" Millicent nodded her head.

Sirius simply laughed at his friend and added in, "Hogwarts symbols can't be forged, they start doing strange things should you try"

Millicent nodded her head, "That's right, I remember Douglas getting in some trouble with trying to change a note that was being sent home to him, whilst we were at Hogwarts"

James looked at his mother and smiled. As much as she tried to convince people that he and Douglas were completely straight laced people, every once and while she would slip up. These times she would mention only a few of the things her and Douglas had gotten up to at Hogwarts; and this left James believing that he was innocent in comparison.

Shaking herself out of her memory, she embraced James and then Sirius alternatively. At the same time, telling them how proud she was of their results. 

"Fancy both of you doing so well" she said as she walked out of the room.

That night when Douglas got home they had a large celebratory dinner for Sirius and James and their OWL results. By that stage they had already Owled Remus and Peter in regards to their own results. Remus had received all O's as well, but as Sirius remarked, that wasn't surprising. Peter on the other hand had barely scraped through; receiving mostly A's.

Harrietta was unreachable, James' owl had come back with the letter he'd sent her. Quite obviously she was very busy. This saddened James quite a bit, as all he wanted to do was know that Harrietta was still safe.

"So I believe this means you get a reward" Douglas said grandly once the deserts had been passed around.

"I hope so" James said eagerly, "That was part of our deal father"

"I'm one to keep to deals James, you know that"

James' eyes lit up. He couldn't wait until they made their trip to Diagon Alley to get school supplies. Usually the trip for school supplies was a dull and mundane job, but with the prospect of getting a brand new broomstick, things were looking better to James. For some reason it was at this point that he looked across the table and saw Sirius sitting their sadly. James knew that Sirius was thinking about what his parents would have thought of his results. He wanted to ask Sirius whether he had owled his family, but he knew better than to ask. Instead he decided to slightly change the subject.

"So where's Aunt Harrietta?" he asked his father, "Where could she be that she can't be reached by Owl?"

"I don't know" Douglas replied solomly, "And she said she's be in contact soon, she had some strange idea for a way for Sirius to be able to go to Diagon Alley"

"So you haven't thought of any way?" Millicent asked, "I thought he'd just take the invisibility clock?"

"Too risky" Douglas explained, "They're still detectable, and people worry about things like that these days, its better for him to go in disguise if he goes at all"

Suddenly a large black owl flew into the dining room, and dropped a letter on Douglas' lap. James looked at his father's face, and then at his mothers, he didn't know who looked more scared. 


End file.
